Sunday, July 27, 2008

Yellowstone- didn't really see any yellow stones there so don't know why it's so called....

So we're home from being on the road 16 days! It seems so long when you go and see so much, and travel and get to do things that aren't ordinary. It makes the world expand before your very eyes! Makes you thankful for all the amazing things out there, and all the amazing little things at home.

Bear with me, because I just couldn't keep down the number of photos to add today. I do have to make up for 2 weeks gone, and a picture is worth, or takes the place of, a thousand words (just see my husband's blog). Now if you have not been to Yellowstone National Park before, this is a bit of a spoiler! Really it is one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. We didn't really tell the kids too much about what is was about, so they could get the surprise effect. Who would think that boiling things would just pop out of the earth? That mud could boil? Or that water would spray 100 feet in the air at regular intervals of 90 minutes for years and years, and then one day just stop? I don't understand all the geology of it, and don't know that I care too, plus all the signs around the park have all the "crap" about how 300 million years ago, such and such took place. I just don't buy that whole ancient, millions of years ago theory, but that's another post altogether, it just caused me to not want to read the informational sign posts around the park. There's something about molten rock and different layers of stuff with water and pressure in between....

The other thing is that I love maps! I don't know if you know that about me, but I love to look at them, follow them, figure out routes, imagine what lies along each line zigzagging across the page, and especially imagining that I have travelled them all and seen the most amazing things along each trail. Our home office used to be covered in just maps of places, but it filled up really fast, and we moved and other things like babies and stuff took over. Our trip.. first, we did this and then we did this with a few side steps here and there, then we did this and ended up down here, but much further down the road in the backwoods of Montana. I'll tell you more about that later.


We spent the night here, but opted for our tent after some kids found a rattler curled up in the teepee.

A stop for a tour of Lewis and Clark Caverns. Amazing minus the bats, the tour takes you DEEP in there, hundreds of feet down and 2 1/2 hours. Very cool! My girl who gets claustrophobic and height-o-phobic (I'll have to ask Charlie Brown what that ones is called) loved it and did amazing!

Next stop -- Yellowstone and a bunch of shooting geysers!

And pools of boiling water just hanging out.


My boy figured out the self timer on his camera and we ended up wading through over 600 photos in 3 days!


Just standing waiting for Mom with a volcanic geyser going off behind you.


The Pristine Pool


Aren't they cute in their matching shirts? Had to refuel for some more hiking.

Now, you just can't get the full effect without video....



It's called the Paint Pots




This one called the Spasm Geyser. Very sporadic :)

Thanks for enjoying my little vacation with me.....

2 comments:

bigcanadiangirl said...

Hey, sounds like fun. I love the photo of your boys in matching shirts. Glad you're back sans rattler bites.

Randi~Dukes and Duchesses said...

That's so great!